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Mustela putorius furo
Habitat/range: This animal is domesticated and is not found in the wild.
Diet: Ferrets are carnivorous and require taurine in their diet. They are fed manufactured cat, dog, and ferret food.
Reproduction: Ferrets are polygamous and the males will mate with as many different females as possible. Ferrets have seasonal polyestrous, where the females will be ready to mate between March and August. A healthy ferret can have up to 3 litters a year, with each litter having up to 15 kits. Gestation lasts for about 42 days. When born the kits are deaf, and have closed eyes. The kits weigh about 6 to 12 g. 10 days after they are born teeth will start to appear in the kits. After about 5 weeks the kits ears and eyes will open. After 8 weeks the kits will finally be able to consume solid food. Females are able to breed at about 6 months of age.
Behavior: Ferrets spend most of the day sleeping, on average 18 to 20 hours. These animals are crepuscular, being active at dawn and dusk. They are very playful and will interact with other pets. They are very curious and will investigate anything. They are intelligent and can be taught tricks and discipline. They use body language to communicate with each other. They will wrestle when playing with each other. They like to stalk toys or other animals while playing with them. They are very social and love attention.
Physical description: After about one year, ferrets will be full grown. Male and female ferrets normally differ in size. Females weigh between 0.3 to 1.1 kg, while males weigh between 0.9 to 2.7 kg. They have long flexible bodies with females ranging from 33 to 35.5 cm long and males range from 38 to 40.6 cm. They are carnivorous and have large canine teeth and 34 teeth total. They have five long claws one each of their paws that are non-retractable. Since they are domesticated, ferrets have been bred to have a variety of different coat colors and patterns.
Conservation Status: Common
Fun Facts:
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Their patterns can range from Siamese to panda, badger, and blazers. |
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Ferrets closely look like their ancestor the European polecats (Mustela putorius). |
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Due to high metabolism of the ferret, food takes 3 to 5 hours to travel through their digestive system. This also means that they need to eat about 10 times a day. |
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When ferrets are young they learn to recognize whatever is fed to them for the first 6 months of their life as food for them to eat for the rest of their life. |
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